Summary: The Rise Of The Washington Establishment

Most members of Congress are concerned with representing their constituents and how to change policies in order to better their districts. Fenno takes an in-depth look at how Congress represents their constituents and to what extents. Fenno’s goal in writing this book is to also show the audience that Congressmen and Congresswomen work to accurately

In “The Rise of the Washington Establishment” by Morris P. Fiorina, he stats his overall theory about the establishment that is Washington. Fiorina mainly focuses on congress men and their wishes, but also mentions bureaucrats and voters. To start off, Fiorina makes 3 major assumptions about the establishment. First, people act in their own interest. That’s not always negative, it just means people are going to go after their own dreams and wishes. Second, the primary goal of a congressman is to be re-elected. Hopefully, it is so they can continue benefitting the people that they represent. Lastly, the voters will benefit from those they elect into power. Therefore, both sides win, the congressman gets re-elected and the people get a voice

The inter workings of Congress have been studied extensively by Richard Fenno and David R. Mayhew. Mayhew’s study of Congress took place in Washington, while Richard Fenno conducted his research by following politicians within their congressional district. Mayhew attributes three primary goals to congressmen- getting reelected, achieving influence within Congress and making “good Policy”. Fenno also attributes three basic goals, having influence inside the House than other congressmen. Second, helping their constituents and thereby insuring their reelection, and lastly helping make good policy. The purpose of this paper is to research a member of Congress and to make a direct connection between his activity in Washington and his home district. The paper will answer whether the congressmen is a delegate or trustee. Are the actions a pursuit for reelection? Are the committee assignments a path for movement within the House or outside? What legislation has he/she sponsored or co-sponsored and does it directly reflect his/her districts political view. And finally, do major industries and interest groups within his/she district affect the way he/she votes.

Congress is perhaps the most despised branch in our government. It is widely considered broken and outdated, and many believe it ignores the wants of the American people. In this paper, I will discuss Congress in depth and shed light on this controversial branch.

85% of House incumbents have been re elected and 91% of Senate incumbents were re elected. Being an incumbent, these officials have name recognition already from their district and allows voters to already be familiar with what they stand for. Congress members can give back to their districts the longer that they are elected into their

Today, career politicians are constantly looking for what will aid them in getting reelected. They become more loyal to their campaign fund contributers than to the people whom they represent. This increases the likelihood of having corrupted politicians in office, as they use the government as a vehicle to further their own career (Kurfirst, 1996, p. 123, 129). George Will, a well-known political journalist, was quoted as saying “[The] worst feature of professionalism in politics is that it obliterates the proper distance between the representatives and the represented” (Kurfirst, 1996, p. 125). Even James Madison agreed that legislators were meant to represent the people, not hold office as a career. In The Federalist No. 57 (1788), he wrote, “From this change of men must proceed a change of opinions; and from a change of opinions, a change of measures.” The lack of new faces in Congress today symbolizes that the American legislative branch is straying from its intended purpose.

After World War ll many economic, social, and political challenges shaped and greatly affected Washington. Some examples of economic challenges were The Cold War, The Korean war and the Space race. Some social challenges were the fear of nuclear attack, the red scare and the post war job losses. Political challenges would be the Women’s rights movement, housing discrimination and civil disobedience. How did these challenges affect us?

One of the advantages that incumbents enjoy in congressional elections is due to “Pork barrel politics” this term is used when congressmen and senators focus government funds into their home

Self-interest is the main point in this essay by Morris P. Fiorina. This term relates to all people in the American government system including congressmen, bureaucrats, and voters. Not only are people out to get re-elected and make more money in politics, and what they are going to get in return whether their ends are tangible or intangible. I believe that this theory speaks now only for politics, but also for society. Most people nowadays are only looking out for themselves, trying to better their chances to make ends meet or get ahead of their neighbor. To meet the needs of the people, congressmen, and the bureaucrats has led to bigger government. This has set the stage for politicians being able

In my opinion, I feel that constituents have power over congress members because they have the power to vote them in or out of office. On the other hand, I feel that voting constituents have the least amount of influence over congress members, who strive for money contributions in order to, run their political campaigns, compared to donors and PACs.

In chapter 5 of, Readings In American Politics Analysis and Perspective by Ken Kollman, David R. Mayhew poses the question of “what would Congress look like if its members were only interested in re-election?” Mayhew poses this question as a pretext for his theories on this topic and uses it to form his own viewpoint based off of his experiences in the realm of domestic politics, more specifically Capital Hill. Directly after Mayhew poses this question, he answers it by saying that members would “posture” and “preen” and occasionally produce pieces of legislation that are useful to there constituencies, which would then be a direct representation of the legislation we observe in the United Sates in present day. In order to help the reader

Oligarchy can be defined and described in many ways; the definition I choose to use is, the control of the government by a minute and rich population for selfish gains.5 While America may be teetering on the edge of democracy and oligarchy, the fact remains that there are too many qualities of an oligarchical government in our supposedly democratic society, to be comfortable. Democracies have large legislatures, making equal representation and rights easier to maintain within its ranks, while oligarchies tend to have smaller legislatures. In America, our Congress has 435 seats to represent our 323.1 million people. And since, as Mayhew and Fenno state, A those members are focused on reelection. So much so, that their overall motives, and goals are corrupt and have the chance to be swayed by donors. If America were to increase the representation of its people, Congress would get far too large to manage, but if we increases the representation of the groups that are rarely heard and rarely seen, America can begin to fall back into the land of democracy.

Political bureaucracy in the United States is shared between several institutions. Each of the corresponding institutions has specific roles that must be met in order to have cohesion between the bureaucracy and the different branches of the government. It has often been stated that the political bureaucracy is equal to that of the fourth branch of government. These contributing roles are designed on a system of a hierarchical structure. The obvious top leader in the chain of command has ultimate control and the authority from there is dispersed from the top. Within each of the levels, each group or individual has a specific individualized job that must be carried out. There is a clear and well written established set of rules for all to follow and equally as

In today’s government, a major issue involves members of Congress focusing all of their time and resources on re-election. This causes the Congress to focus on the desires and needs of their constituents while potentially ignoring necessary projects and laws that could benefit the entire nation. This, in effect, results in wasted funding and an inefficient Congress. I am a strong believer that the members of Congress need to focus on the national issues rather than local issues that dictate re-election. The state and local governments are in place to pass laws and ensure that the local communities are being represented in a correct manner. Members of Congress focusing on these local issues drives the “need” for pork-barreling. There are potential

Socrates says that the guardians rule through their wisdom, which was acquired in their childhood through a diverse education, “our children’s games must from the very beginning be more law-abiding, for if their games become lawless, and the children follow suit, isn’t it impossible for them to grow up into good law-abiding men” (Book IV 424e-425a). According to Socrates, the state is influenced by the childhood a community provides and that if children are raised without regard to the law they will manifest this lawlessness in their leadership. Much of Washington is the byproduct of a time when corporations and the state were becoming intertwined, and laws being manufactured to favor one’s agenda. So a congressman can follow the law, but not concern himself with the balance of his